St. Augustine Beach!

Just a few random beachy images for ya! I will spend the rest of my life trying to get Jamey a gig on the coast! As much as I adore my mountains-I just LOVE the BEACH!! (And apparently so does Ryan)!

4th of July!!!

After the July 3rd debacle at Tybee, we decided to stick close to home! We started out going to the water park and the more and more we go, the more and more Ryan falls in love with it. She is really starting to exhibit no fear and just runs and jumps and dives in-to my dismay! It is one thing to be fearless in my living room, and another around water! But she has so much fun, the chase and vigilance is worth it. After a few hours, we went home to a much needed nap, then head to dinner. There are not many things about Statesboro worth mentioning, but they do have a wonderful park. It is a sports complex really, with a water park inside that is really nice for the kids! We went there for their 4th activities and fireworks. We got there and realized that once again, we forgot bug spray (a MUST in south Georgia) so Jamey had to walk to the store (sorry again Jamey). They had big inflatable bouncers for the kids and even though she wasnt big enough to jump in them, she had fun running around on the playground. Sadly our stupidity reigns again, we put our stuff and blanket down on/near an ant hill...so needless to say we got eaten alive again (those hurt). My main fear was how Ryan was going to handle the noise of the fireworks, especially once they got started and I realized we were very close (closest i have ever been). But she seemed fascinated and just walked from person to person to have us hold her to watch them. Actually one of the best firework displays I have seen! Ryan crashed on the way home and all in all a pretty successful 4th!

Comedy of Errors-3rd of July @ Tybee Island

So I should have known this day was going to be a comedy of errors from the get go! It started out with mom bringing fireworks for us. Which sounds fun, until they are in Jamey's hands. At about 2:00pm on a day that was 102 degrees outside Jamey decided he wanted to "test" one of the firecrackers. Ok...seems reasonable enough. A little background info to help put this bad idea into better context; it has been unusually hot and dry lately, and the grass was just mowed a week prior with the cuttings not being swept up-so essentially hay was left. Thinking he was going to do this in the driveway, I told him where the lighter is (my fault I know). So instead of doing this experiment in the driveway, he goes out back, lights the firecracker and tosses it into the yard, where you guessed it it set the lawn on fire! In typical Jamey fashion, he comes in all casual, no sense of urgency and says to me and my mom, "I think I may need some help, the grass is on fire." We jump up to run into the kitchen to find him slowly filling up a pan with water. We all make it outside to find a 4 ft by 4ft square of grass on fire..which he did get out with the pan of water...my first thought should have been, "Why did you throw it in the yard?" but instead I could only think, "Why didnt you grab the hose right over there?" Either way, we look like 4th of July amateurs and it is only the 3rd!

The lack of brains and preparation continues as we head to Tybee Island for beach fireworks. We eat dinner in Savannah, which was nice, it was a glorious night outside and the town was hopin! After dinner we headed to Tybee where the debacle begins. I did a little researchwhere I find out if we headed to the north side of the island we could see both Tybee's show and Hilton Heads-this was not true (or it is possible we left before Hilton Head's started). We walked down the boardwalk to the beach and Ryan is already in full steam. It should be said that I am the worst mother-I didnt bring several staple items if one is going to the beach-bathing suit, extra outfit, swimmers, towels, bug spray..etc..Now in my defense, I hadnt planned on going into the ocean-AT ALL; maybe our feet, but thats it. I did not anticipate our Ryanbug being a waterbug. You can see the series of events from the pictures above. Here is how it went (in literally minutes):

Walk to ocean (more of a tippy tumbles into the ocean).

Feet in, pants get wet.

Roll up pants, she walks in further, mom, grandma and Jamey are now soaked as well.

Strip down to diaper and let her sit in the water (sand covering everything)

This isnt good enough, now Jamey fully dressed takes her way out-waist level...DONE

Now even though we all had to suffer through getting eaten alive by bugs, sit in wet clothes watching fireworks we could barely see, poorly attempting to keep bottles out of the sand, we all had a fairly good time watching Ryan have a blast!

Now here is where things get really miserable-there were no showers to rinse her off, we had to change her in a dirty sink and put her in the car seat in a diaper only. Meanwhile Jamey and I changed into bathing suits we happen to have in the car just to get home...if it sounds backwards you are right. All of us are exhausted, dirty, itchy and still have 1 1/2 hour drive! Happy 3rd!

Fathers Day!

Poor daddy had to share his Fathers Day with his Birthday this year-neither of which was anything spectacular! We did however decide to go out to dinner to celebrate, but in usual Jamey fashion, he did most of the work anyway-they really should come up with a day to honor the amazing dads who...wait...what....oh...that is what this weekend was supposed to be...oooppppss. Sorry daddy-we'll get you next year!

As you can see from above, Ryan has gotten into a pretty clear routine when getting ready. She gets dressed (which BTW, how adorable is that dress Aunt Judy got her?) then she immediately knows to put on her shoes next. Usually she backs into me and sits on my lap for me to put them on, but on this day she wanted to make daddy proud by putting them on herself...futile..but I loved the effort. Then once she is ready (VERY much like me) she is ready to go and everyone in house better be ready too! Sadly, even though it was supposed to be Jamey's night, Ryan was irritated that he wasnt ready yet-see her looking upstairs for him?! Once he came down, she ran to the window as if showing us she wants to go outside, then ran to daddy to pick her up to go...I guess it is now Ryans world and we just live in it....not only that, but I got a small glimpse of what it feels to have someone rush you to leave...hey-I only asked to picked up that once...but there is no excuse for yelling up the stairs and running to the window...sorry Jamey!

Great Grandmas house!

As a kid I always adored going to Grandmas House. Maybe it was because it was usually for Christmas, or the fact that I got to see snow, but my memories of this house are very fond ones!

So despite the circumstances surrounding this visit, I was fairly excited to take Ryan to visit her Great grandma. I think it is important to note that my grandmas house looks like an antique store, one you normally would NOT take a year old child into for fear of them grabbing and breaking everything in sight. I think Ryan had a blast, but for us it hours of running after her saying no and taking stuff out of her hands. After the first day we just about got everything out of sight, only to have my poor restless grandma put everything back in its place after we left, so we had repeat the routine every visit. Then on top of that we had Uncle Scott playing the instigator, bring her old antique chairs, toys and dolls (I swear the ugliest and scariest doll I have ever seen).

Also, on this visit she finally got to meet Aunt Judy (yes, the phantom aunt who sends her the best presents!), Uncle Jeb and Cousin Jamie. Jamie at one point had Ryan in stitches...I'm not sure what she did to get her to laugh, but it was the sweetest moment of the trip. She just loved Jamie!

Then she got to meet dads sisters, Fran and Sue, Frans son Michael, his wife Jessica, and their children Ellie and Ben. Ryan was a little skeptical at first (Ellie is her age) but once they broke out the toys-she was fine. Although I had to remind her more than once that that was NOT daycare and those toys are Ellie's-I hope she learns sharing soon-that was embarrassing. The funny part was, Ryan and Ellie had identical whines, so anytime either one of them pitched a fit, Jessica and I would look around to make sure it wasn't ours!

I think now Ryan has met her entire family at least once. Whew-that only took a year!

Travel Bug!

You will notice no pictures were taken from inside the car on our 25 (really only 12) hour one way drive-no one needs to see the melt down of two grown adults and a 14 month old! Lets just say it was ugly. I am probably exaggerating slightly (no-not me!) we actually split the trip to Ohio from Georgia up by stopping at our "home" in Asheville. We were able to visit with our buddies and basically "get the hell out of that freakin car"-as I am sure Ryan would put it if she could talk. The following day we wanted to leave late so Ryan would sleep most of the trip-this is good in theory, the execution left a lot to be desired. We ended up getting in to the hotel room at 12:30am and the girl was suddenly wide awake. You HAVE to love the naive, idealistic notion we had in our heads of picking her up asleep out of her car seat, straight to the ready made crib in our room. Kinda cute for those experienced moms right? No such luck, however, we did have to unpack our lives, so she might as well have been awake. With the aversion to riding in the car aside, she became quite the experienced traveler on this trip-enjoying all the amenities the hotel had to offer-the pool of coarse, the continental breakfast, the extra rolls of toilet paper under the sink, the super soft cozy comforter that appealed to her much better than the crib, the vending machines..all of it. I think I even caught her calling downstairs for room service and helping out by walking up and down the hall providing wake up calls to all around us. Next thing you know it was time for us to load up and check out. Have you ever had the feeling of dying to get home, but dreading getting there...I wont go into details, but lets say it involved a major highway closing, a 3 hour detour, a monsoon through crazy traffic, a screaming child and suddenly a 8 hour drive turned in to 12. Yup-good times!

By the way-the first picture is the two of them, in their church clothes after my dads service, eating Wendy's on the hotel bed-soooo classy!

Splash in the Boro'

Children are a great way to distract you from life's truly saddest moments. Just after my fathers passing I decided that Ryan seemed depressed and needed a day of fun. Ok, so probably pretty improbable for a 14 month old to be depressed and, ok, maybe it was I who was needing a distracting day of fun....soooooo....WATER PARK DAY-SPLASH IN THE BORO! Thats right cats and kittens, pack your bathing suits, sunblock, hats, towels, bottles...geez..whew....gone are the days of running out in your suit and grabbing a towel on your way out the door. Now actual planning goes into a day like this, packing, scheduling nap times and lunches-not exactly spontaneous. We planned to get to the park as soon as it opened-10:00am-we strolled in with our luggage at 1:00 and feeling pretty good about ourselves. Here is the good news and what made the day worthwhile-Ryan had a ball, she loved it, she loved the water, the pools, the lazy river (well, who doesnt really?). She had an incredible time and I was so thankful because sometimes in times of sadness like this and extreme sorrow, the bad can seem really bad. The flip side of this is in this highly emotionally charged state-the good is that much better-and this day was a good one!

The Streets of Heaven are too Crowded with Angels tonight!

It is with a heavy heart that I have to write about my father passing on May 29, 2009. I am not going to go into much detail-still too soon for that-however, I will say how blessed we were as children to have had him as a dad. I am eternally grateful for the wit and sense of humor he gave me (is that a compliment?) and so very very thankful that not only did he get to meet his grandchild, but more importantly she got to meet him. I will forever cherish this picture-she came into great grandmas house and plopped down to play-I didnt even notice until I picked up my camera that my fathers portrait was in the background-lovely...simply lovely. I just know he is in heaven watching her grow and laughing at my every struggle (moms arent the only ones to put curses on their children to raise a child just like they were! ) I love you dad!

To see his memorial page please visit www.MeM.com and search John Schommer

Pop-Tarts, Swimming Pools and Too Cool for School

I know there is a rule somewhere, I do recall quite vividly the wait to get back into the pool after eating. What is it- 20 min that felt like an hour? Well, not my princess, no sir, she mustn't wait. So instead we made her baby pool like a Sandals resort with a swim up bar offering juice, milk and snacks! On this day she chose to eat pop tarts while she wades. She put her shades on, kicked back in dads lap and munched on her snack-like the rock star she is! Ah, the good life!

Is there a "How-To" book or class for little girls hair?!

Cause if so, then I need to take it. In my vain attempt to get her ready for school I had to do something with the morning "fluffhead" she had going on. So I took this spray we have for her hair, basically wets it, and I combed in down and VIOLA-the Flip! This has to go into the hairdo Hall of Fame! One gal said she looked liked George Washington, which I dont think was necessary, but it was my mom who said it best-she said she looked like a woman in the 50's and that I should change her name to Judy! That slayed me!!

Absolutely no offense to my Aunt Judy-it was just a popular name from the 50's is all!

Hazy, lazy, crazy days by the pool!

Her first pool. So new, so exciting, so....COLD??? It may have been 94 outside, but the water was like 50. Fortunately, the sun did start to warm it up a bit and after a teenie weenie freak out, she got the fun! She walked around, played with her ball, splashed till we were soaked...and did NOT want to come out. But as you can tell by her feet-the barometer for "length of time in pool", it certainly was time to go inside. As a side note to this new experience, we forgot to get the "swimmers" diapers to go underneath the suit...ooops. But we decided to risk it and put her in the pool with nothing underneath-daring aren't we? No gross accidents to report-WHEW...although the look on Jameys face would have almost been worth it! So this is our new weekend ritual..Swimming on Saturdays-next time with proper protection! :)

She cracks herself up!!!

I'm not quite sure what got into this child, but for about an hour and 1/2 last night, she was making herself laugh-hard. So hard in fact, she would crumple over herself laughing. She was sitting on the couch, chillin, and then out of no where, she just burst into laughter-for no good reason. And she ended up just sitting on the edge of the couch having the "church giggles" (you know, once you get laughing and can't stop no matter how you try). As we all know "laughter is contagious"-Jamey and I were rolling on the floor! I would challenge anyone to watch this child laugh, and not join in!

Whoever invented Spaghet-i-o's...

for babies should be shot!!!! Who's grand idea was it to make a finger food out of something that stains for crying out loud?! Of coarse, I am the delusional mom who actually thought she would pick them up piece by piece and place them nicely in her mouth. Instead, she would grab fistfuls and toss them at her face like the cookie monster! Oh, if only Steve were still with us, he would have loved this and I wouldnt have to clean the floor myself.

After dinner, of coarse, came the ensuing bath!!!! I just dumped her in some water and started scrubbing. 10 minutes is my normal limit for her baths-this one took 45!